Wordmanship: Confessions of a completionist

3:40 AM,
Jun. 27, 2013

Written by

Terry Mapes
wordmanship.blogspot.com

He'd always been a completionist: he had to finish a book once he'd started it; it seemed like bad manners not to, like not finishing the food on your plate. - Ian Sansom, Mr. Dixon Disappears

When I was a young city hall reporter, I might sometimes have to spend an hour or more waiting in the mayor's office for a chance to ask him a question or two. I always carried a paperback with me for such circumstances, and I read a number of books while getting paid to wait for the mayor. One day the city solicitor came in, said hello and asked what I was reading. It was William Golding's novel The Spire. He asked if I ...